Home Ethernet Wiring

EpicKris

EpicKris

EpicKris

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5 May 2013
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Location
London, UK
We've just bought a new house, it's a two bedroom, London Terraced house. We'll likely be moving in around 4-6 weeks time. I'm taking this opportunity to network the house up before fitting new carpets and such.

I wanted advice on my 'plan' for the network rollout.

Locations & Devices
Ground Floor
There are three rooms downstairs; the lounge, diner, and kitchen, in the middle of the house are the stairs (between the lounge and diner).
There is a small cupboard under the stairs which host the electricity fuses for the property, I want to distribute the network from this point, alternatively there is also a small cupboard above the stairs on the first floor that could be used.
The lounge will host the modem for our internet (BT Infinity 2), I plan on using an ethernet connection to route this to where I will distribute the network.
The lounge will also host a TV, Apple TV, and PS3, so I plan on using 3-4 ethernet connections to route to this location.
The diner will possibly host a TV, and Apple TV, so I plan on using 1-2 ethernet connections to route to this location.
The kitchen will possibly host a TV, and Apple TV, so I plan on using 1-2 ethernet connections to route to this location.

First Floor
There are three rooms upstairs; two bedrooms (one will be used as a study), and bathroom, in the middle of the house are the stairs (between the bedrooms).
As mentioned before, there is a small cupboard above the stairs which could be used to distribute the network.
The bedroom will host a TV, and PS3, and possibly an Apple TV, so I plan on using 2-4 ethernet connections to route to this location.
The bedroom (study) while host an OS X Server, and possibly a TV, and Apple TV, so I plan on using 1-4 ethernet connections to route to this location.

The small cupboard will host an AirPort Extreme as the primary router and likely and ethernet switch.
Other rooms will also host AirPort Extreme(s) / Express(es) as bridge routers (to extend the Wi-Fi).



I am undecided whether to use a star installation on the ground floor, then the same on the first floor (on a per floor basis) or just use a star installation from where I will distribute the network from.
I am also undecided where to use a central switch or use in-room switches and just using 1 ethernet connection to each room.

I would like to use Cat 6 cable for this installation.

The building has brick walls and I can't really run any cables through the walls, so I plan on using the floorboards and getting cable upstairs using the underneath of the stairs.

Also, I'm not sure where I should get any equipment from; I live in the UK and would like to get this as cheap as possible.

I'm open to advice, feedback and suggestions.
 
you're best of using a single central point and wire everything to there. Theres really no added difficulity wiring up multiple cables as there is with just 1.

The central location could be anywhere, but usually somewhere out of the way. Just pick the area that would be the easiest to run all the cables to.

Also think about wether you want to use a patch panel or not

its not always possible to run cables without going through any walls however, but if you really dont want to drill through any walls, you could use trunking to get around them.

but you should be able to put most of the cable under the floorboards, which is generally the best place to run them
 
I have all my cat 5e behind skirting boards using a router (the woodworking tool rather than the networking router). Some are trunked and through walls where appropriate, they all terminate in the loft to a Cisco 100D switch. Using eBay double gang ethernet faceplates but wish someone would make a double mains faceplate with 2 ethernet sockets too **waits for someone to point out they are common**
 
d_brennen said:
I have all my cat 5e behind skirting boards using a router (the woodworking tool rather than the networking router). Some are trunked and through walls where appropriate, they all terminate in the loft to a Cisco 100D switch. Using eBay double gang ethernet faceplates but wish someone would make a double mains faceplate with 2 ethernet sockets too **waits for someone to point out they are common**
Click to expand...

I'm actually considering using Cat 5e myself now, purely because of expense. I like the idea of having the cables run behind the skirting boards, but I think it would be far quicker (and probably easier) for me to just use the floorboards.

As for having a mains socket combined with and ethernet socket, is that not somewhat risky having the cables so close, everything I've read has said to avoid having mains cable and ethernet cable close together at all?
 
You'd probably find that Cat5e is easier to work with.

The separation from the mains wiring doesn't need to be that great, but I think sharing the same faceplate would be pushing your luck.
 
Cycrow said:
you're best of using a single central point and wire everything to there. Theres really no added difficulity wiring up multiple cables as there is with just 1.

The central location could be anywhere, but usually somewhere out of the way. Just pick the area that would be the easiest to run all the cables to.

Also think about wether you want to use a patch panel or not

its not always possible to run cables without going through any walls however, but if you really dont want to drill through any walls, you could use trunking to get around them.

but you should be able to put most of the cable under the floorboards, which is generally the best place to run them
Click to expand...

Sorry, I've only just seen your post, must've missed it earlier.

I think the central location will have to be in the upstairs cupboard (although under the attic access) as the partner would like to get a downstairs toilet put in.

I don't think I'm going to bother with a patch panel etc, in fact I was thinking of changing to simply 1 ethernet to each room and just using AirPort Extreme(s) and AirPort Express(es) to extend our Wi-Fi (since the Wi-Fi significantly seems to lose signal through any brick wall). Obviously I would have one as the primary router and the rest as just 'bridges'. Plus each of these devices will have 1-3 additional ethernet ports.

I say this because I need to keep costs low to please the partner. ;)
 
I've been planning something similar for a while. We get the keys to our new house next Tuesday but as we are keeping are current house we aren't in a big hurry to move. I'm pretty sure there is a space under the staircase that isn't being used but needs a cupboard being built. Once built I'm putting the network gear in here.

I have asked very similar questions and I have decided on one 24 port switch with short patch cables into a patch panel. The patch panel means I could potentially run other stuff over cat5e - phone, HDMI and run those cables through the trunking into the rooms as required. I would go for at least 2 per room. I had thought about 4 for some rooms but not convinced I'll need them.

I'll be using some wifi stuff in the form of Sonos gear for the kitchen and dining room. But even having an ethernet in the kitchen will be useful for a smart TV on the wall - its a big kitchen with seating area.

All good plans but haven't wanted to price it up just yet :)
 
bremen1874 said:
You'd probably find that Cat5e is easier to work with.

The separation from the mains wiring doesn't need to be that great, but I think sharing the same faceplate would be pushing your luck.
Click to expand...

I've seen single mains face plated with an ethernet socket, they seem to work fine from what I've read. I have never seen a double gang socket though
 
EpicKris said:
Sorry, I've only just seen your post, must've missed it earlier.

I think the central location will have to be in the upstairs cupboard (although under the attic access) as the partner would like to get a downstairs toilet put in.

I don't think I'm going to bother with a patch panel etc, in fact I was thinking of changing to simply 1 ethernet to each room and just using AirPort Extreme(s) and AirPort Express(es) to extend our Wi-Fi (since the Wi-Fi significantly seems to lose signal through any brick wall). Obviously I would have one as the primary router and the rest as just 'bridges'. Plus each of these devices will have 1-3 additional ethernet ports.

I say this because I need to keep costs low to please the partner. ;)
Click to expand...

if you plan to keep costs down then im not sure having wi-fi extenders in every room is the way to go.

Cat 5e or Cat 6 cabling is pretty cheap really. £30-40 will get you a 1000ft roll, which would be more than enough for a whole house.

to save abit of money you can skip the patch panel and just plug the cables directly into a switch. A patch panel is just neater.

theres also the speed difference between wireless and cable. But it depends on what you have on the network and what they will be doing

if all the devices are simply accessing the internet, then you could probably get away with wireless. But you will notice it when you start transferring data over the network. And of course wireless could increase latency which isn't that great for gaming
 
Cycrow said:
if you plan to keep costs down then im not sure having wi-fi extenders in every room is the way to go.

Cat 5e or Cat 6 cabling is pretty cheap really. £30-40 will get you a 1000ft roll, which would be more than enough for a whole house.

to save abit of money you can skip the patch panel and just plug the cables directly into a switch. A patch panel is just neater.

theres also the speed difference between wireless and cable. But it depends on what you have on the network and what they will be doing

if all the devices are simply accessing the internet, then you could probably get away with wireless. But you will notice it when you start transferring data over the network. And of course wireless could increase latency which isn't that great for gaming
Click to expand...

It's true having Wi-Fi extenders in every room won't be cheap, but I've already got the main router and I was thinking of a second downstairs (which I have) and so only buying one upstairs.

Could you provide me a link where you found Cat 6 cable that cheap!? I seriously can not find anything that cheap. :D

I've extended my network like the before (just a single bridge), granted it was a smaller house, but I never experienced any problems at all when I done this, it worked perfectly, even for streaming and gaming. :)
 
its been awhile since i bought any cable, so it was just a rough estimate. Not really looked at the prices recently
 
EpicKris said:
What exactly is CCA?
Click to expand...

Copper Clad Aluminium. There's also its really nasty cousin CCS (Copper Clad Steel), but you hopefully won’t come across that.

There isn't necessarily anything wrong with CCA, but I personally don't like the idea. It only exists as a cost saving measure, and I don't remembering seeing it at all before the copper prices went up.
 
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